


Property of P.P.

by tonysbruce



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Extremis Pepper Potts, Fluff, Gen, I Don't Even Know, Mama Bear Pepper Potts, Peter and Pepper have the same lame t-shirt, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), a little bit? or during it i should say, and her spider-son Peter Parker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-13 01:43:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9100873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonysbruce/pseuds/tonysbruce
Summary: Mr. Stark is always leaving his things behind, and sometimes those things include a teenage kid in a spider-suit with no idea how the hell he's getting home from Germany.
Cue Pepper Potts, who is always Tony's first choice for post-battle cleanup, and totally not who Peter expected to come haul him back to New York.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So the trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming came out like a month ago, and someone pointed out that Peter is wearing the same shirt that Pepper wears in IM3, and then I saw [this post](http://pepperpottes.tumblr.com/post/154250760299/peggy-carter-do-you-think-pepper-potts-gave-peter), and then this fic happened.
> 
> So I interrupt my previously unannounced and indefinite writing hiatus to bring you this ridiculousness, which was only supposed to be a few hundred words but somehow turned into nearly 4k of Mama Bear Pepper Potts and her Spider-Son Peter Parker. (Also I've never written Peter before in my life. I hope it doesn't suck.)
> 
> So... I hope whoever reads this enjoys it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It was fun. It's nice to be back (even if only for a little bit).

Peter knew how he got to Germany, but he had no idea how the hell he was getting home.

Sure, he had a super-suit, too. Just like Mr. Stark’s, totally. It could shoot stuff and stick to stuff and kinda-sorta fly for a limited amount of time if he wasn’t concerned about a harsh landing anytime soon. Yup, sure. Super-suit. It did all the things he needed.

Except get him home.

Well, at least he was stuck at an airport, of all places.

Mr. Stark had needed to jet off pretty quick, and apparently when Tony Stark says _jet_ he doesn’t always mean _actual airplane for other people to ride,_ he really means _my suit has an occupancy of one, so I’ll send my people to pick you up. Chill out, kid. You’ll be back in time to do your homework._

So there Peter sat, in the airport. The partially destroyed and vaguely creepy airport, waiting for whoever Mr. Stark’s “people” were. What time was it, even? How long had they been in Germany?

Jesus, Aunt May was probably flipping shit.

Peter flopped back onto the cold airport bench he’d been on for God knows how long and sighed. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the dull throbbing in his arms and legs and back and pretty much everything else, but wasn’t met with too much success. If this is what being a superhero _actually_ entailed, it almost made him want to second-guess the whole Spider-Man thing.

Not that much, though. Because for every bruise he had from earlier that day, he had about ten ounces of excitement, because that fight was the coolest thing he’d _ever_ seen, let alone been a part of. And as much as sitting there in that empty airport sucked, it felt… right. Like he was here because he’d done something worthwhile.

It was a feeling he’d only experienced for the first time about six months ago, and it made his next decision an easy one. Spider-Man wasn’t going anywhere.

Except home.

“Excuse me? Peter?”

He’d been just about to take a cat-nap when a voice startled him out of it, and Peter jumped, nearly sliding off the bench. He blinked a few times to get reoriented and figure out if that voice belonged to one of Mr. Stark’s people, and… holy shit. Was that…?

Did Mr. Stark seriously send freaking _Pepper Potts_ to pick him up?

“Hi,” Peter said, hastily trying to gather himself and sit up on the bench like a normal person, or as normal as a person wearing a grime-covered and half-ripped spider-suit could be.

“Hi,” the woman replied, clearly trying to hide her amusement. “You’re Peter Parker?”

“Yeah,” Peter said, finally getting himself situated. “Yeah, I’m Pepper—I mean, Peter. I’m Peter. Hi. Nice to meet you.”

Pepper really couldn’t hide her smile at that one, but Peter did his best to stifle a groan. Great, he was already embarrassing himself in front of Mr. Stark’s people. Although, when he said “people”, Peter didn’t think it would be… well, her. The CEO of Stark Industries who probably had way more important things to do than pick up some teenage spider-kid at an airport across the Atlantic.

This day just got weirder and weirder.

“Nice to meet you too,” Pepper said, holding a hand out towards Peter. He reached out and took it, shaking her hand in greeting, but then realized that her intention was to help him up when she basically pulled him to his feet without any effort of his own. Damn, she was pretty strong. And fairly warm. _God, don’t tell me she has superpowers, too._ “I’m Pepper. Now come on, the plane’s waiting over there.”

She turned around then and gestured for Peter to follow, and after another split-second of shaking off his awe at this whole situation, he did. His own gait was a bit of a stumble compared to the quick strikes of Pepper’s heels against the concrete, and he thought that if she did in fact have some kind of superpower, it was probably the ability to walk in _those_ things.

“Feel free to make yourself comfortable,” Pepper said once they’d gotten on the fairly sizeable jet with the Stark Industries logo slapped across the side. It was an impressive sight from the outside, but the inside—Peter didn’t think he’d ever be on a private jet. Ever. But he sure was right now, and the movies really didn’t do it justice. This thing was _awesome._ “We’ve got a bit of a trip ahead of us, and you’re probably exhausted.”

“Uh, yeah, I guess I’m kind of tired,” Peter said, looking around with a bit of uncertainty as to which plush seat he was supposed to sit in. They all looked so luxurious, and he felt weird sitting on the probably ridiculously expensive fabric with his grimy suit on.

“Kind of?” Pepper asked, looking at him with her eyebrows raised and a little smirk on her lips. “You say it like I’ve never heard that excuse before. Please, sit. I’ll get you a change of clothes and you’ll be home in no time. Happy, could you let the pilot know we’re about ready?” she said, turning towards another man on the plane that Peter hadn’t yet noticed in his bout of amazement.

“Happy? As in Hogan?” he asked, looking between the two. Pepper nodded, and Peter blinked. “You’re telling me that Mr. Stark sent the CEO of his company and his own personal bodyguard to come get me?”

“Actually, Head of Secur—” Happy started, but he didn’t get to finish the sentence when Pepper nodded with a bit of amused exasperation.

“Head of Security, yes,” she corrected, and Happy gave a curt nod. Peter murmured a quiet ‘sorry’, but the other two just brushed it off. “Tony doesn’t send just anybody when it’s important,” she continued, rummaging through a duffel bag on another one of the seats. “Which he told me that you are. So, yes. You got myself and Happy.”

“Oh.” Important, really? _That_ important? Peter, honestly, was in awe all over again (not that he’d stopped in the first place). “Wow. Uh, thanks. A lot, for taking all this time, I mean, I bet you’re super busy—like, crazy busy, and that’s a pretty long flight, so—”

“It’s really not a bother,” Pepper said, effectively stopping Peter’s rambles. “Honestly, I’m glad. Germany’s a nice country, and it got me out of a board meeting I really wasn’t looking forward to, so it was nice. Plus, with all the babbling Tony’s done, I was pretty eager to meet you for myself.” She smiled, and the little gesture actually made Peter feel like less of a burden at the moment. She was just so _nice._ So kind, and Peter thought that she and Aunt May would get on very well. “Here,” Pepper said, handing him a pair of folded pants and a shirt. “The pants might be a little big, sorry. They’re Tony’s.”

Peter shrugged, not bothered. At this point, even clothes that were four sizes too big would be better than his suit. He unfolded the pile of clothes Pepper gave him, and stopped to read the graphic on the heather grey t-shirt. It depicted two cartoon atoms, one exclaiming _“I lost an electron!”_ while the other asked _“Are you positive?”_ It was ridiculously cheesy, but also kind of hilarious, and Peter couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Is this his too?” he asked.

“Hm?” Pepper hummed, looking up from her phone to see what the boy was talking about. “Oh,” she chuckled softly, “no, uh, that’s mine. Thought it might fit you better than one of his shirts.”

Peter raised his eyebrows, glancing between Pepper and the shirt in his hands. That was… unexpected. He’d only ever seen her on magazine covers and in the news, of course, but when he did, she was always so pulled together, so poised, usually dressed in a sharp business suit with five-inch heels. The mental image of her wearing something with such a juvenile pun was actually kind of hilarious. (Although, Peter supposed that she _was_ a real human like anyone else, and any real human couldn’t do with wearing power suits and stilettos 24/7. But still.)

Apparently no one else thought it was as amusing as he did, though, so Peter just shut up and resolved himself to go change. He managed to find the restroom on the plane, which was the closest thing to a regular bathroom he’d ever seen on an airplane before, and got washed up and changed as fast as he could. It felt a hell of a lot better to not be wearing that suit anymore, even if Mr. Stark’s jeans were definitely a little big on him.

He wandered back out and sat down in one of the overly plush and luxurious chairs, folding his hands in his lap and trying to not seem too awkward. Awkward was definitely not the kind of impression he wanted to make on the people he was currently surrounded with, although he didn’t think there was much he could do to avoid it anymore. Pepper was sitting there perfectly poised while she checked her emails or something on her phone, Happy was in the back trying to look as protective and intimidating as he could manage, Mr. Stark was… well, God knows where. And Peter was just sitting there, beat up, twiddling his thumbs, and wearing their clothes.

Yeah, awkward.

“Mr. Stark talks about me?” Peter blurted a few moments later, and after that he definitely gave up on the _don’t make it awkward_ thing.

Pepper looked up from her phone, the corner of her mouth turned up with amusement. “Did he tell you to call him Mr. Stark?” she asked.

“Um.” Peter shrugged. “Maybe? Wh—”

“Oh, nothing, nothing.” Pepper shook her head and waved it off. “It’s just funny that he spent ten years trying to get me to _not_ call him that. Anyway,” she managed to shake off her amusement as well, “yeah, he’s talked about you quite a lot. Complete with video evidence on YouTube and excitable technobabble.”

Peter nodded slowly, just giving himself a moment to let that sink in. It was a shock initially to know that he’d caught Tony Stark’s attention, but knowing that the man’s fascination went _that_ far? Crazy. And kind of flattering. “Oh,” he said, unsure which part of this to address first.

“Yeah,” Pepper continued, that small smile still on her face as her eyes wandered absently towards the window. “It’s been a long time since he’s latched onto something besides his suits like that. I mean, it was a little much having Spider-Man YouTube videos sent to me every half hour, but it was refreshing to see him so engaged.” She looked over towards Peter again, and by the way her clear blue eyes almost glistened, he could tell that she was really telling the truth. He actually felt touched. “He was like a kid on Christmas morning when he finally figured out who you actually are, and that you live in the city.”

“Wow, Uh,” Peter huffed out a semi-incredulous chuckle, “that’s cool. Man, that’s cool as hell.” _Seriously._ Freaking _Iron Man_ spent all that time and energy tracking him down. Peter really didn’t think he was that fascinating by any means, but it was nice to know that Mr. Stark and apparently Pepper Potts thought so. With that idea, however, something occurred to him, and his stomach dropped for a moment. “You’re the only person he’s told, though… right?”

Something in his expression must have shifted drastically, because Pepper’s demeanor changed almost instantly. “Yes,” she said, confidently enough that it was actually reassuring. “Yes, of course. Tony might not care about keeping his own identity secret, but he would never out someone else like that.”

Peter felt himself deflate. Well, of course. Logically, he knew that, but even the littlest thing that indicated that his cover was possibly blown still froze him up. For what it was worth, he trusted Mr. Stark so far, but it was still nice to have the definite reassurance. “Yeah,” he said, visibly relaxing, “good. Not really into the whole ‘announce my secret identity from a national pedestal’ thing.”

Pepper chuckled. “Me neither.”

Peter raised an eyebrow, skeptical. “Don’t you do that for a living?” he asked, lips twitching into a dubious smile. “Stand on a national pedestal?”

Pepper paused to consider, looking around for a moment before she huffed out another quiet laugh. “Well… yes,” she said. “For my day job, at least.”

Peter blinked, then shrugged, confused. “And your night job?”

“It’s not really a night job,” Pepper replied, clearly questioning her word choice. “It’s not really an anything job.” She fell silent again for another few moments, and Peter studied the way her expression changed. She seemed to be having some kind of internal argument with herself, and he actually started to feel a little guilty for broaching a clearly touchy subject.

She seemed to come to terms with herself a little bit later though, and Peter watched curiously as she looked down at her hand and clenched her fist. He wasn’t sure if it was just some kind of nervous reflex thing, but not even a few seconds later it looked as if her pale skin began to… glow. Yeah, it was _glowing_ , a deep orange that ran from her forearm all the way down through her fingertips, seeming to illuminate the veins beneath her skin. Holy _shit._ Was that—? Jesus Christ. Peter supposed that explained her unnaturally warm handshake, whatever the hell it was.

“What the f—” Peter started, but didn’t get all the words out as his wide eyes danced between Pepper’s hand and her eyes.

“It’s called Extremis,” Pepper said, starting on the explanation that Peter no doubt was going to ask for. “Something I never wanted or asked for. Although, I suppose who _does_ ask for this kind of thing, hm?” She gave Peter a knowing look, and he couldn’t help but concur. He certainly hadn’t asked for his abilities, either. “I guess you could call it my night job… that I don’t actually do.”

Peter still stared for the moment, riveted. Pepper’s fingertips sparked, but not even a few moments after the orange glow began to recede, fading down her arm to a pale yellow before disappearing completely. It happened so fast that he questioned if it was even real, but the contemplative look on Pepper’s face confirmed that it was. “What does it do?”

“Superhuman strength, endurance, and a regenerative healing factor,” Pepper explained, almost as if it was rehearsed. “And the fire might come in handy if I was stranded in a forest somewhere.”

“Where’d it come from?” he blurted curiously, but it only took him a second to realize that was _way inappropriate,_ even if the way Pepper’s expression shifted defensively wasn’t enough of a clue. Yeah, people usually didn’t talk about that kind of thing. He didn’t, Mr. Stark didn’t, no one really did. He cleared his throat and sat back in the seat, relentlessly scanning his brain for something to make this less awkward. “Sorry. Sorry, uh, I mean—so no one knows about it?”

“Just Tony and Rhodey. And you,” she replied easily.

Peter wasn’t sure what to say. He felt an unfounded sense of worth in the knowledge that she’d included him in this, but it was… strange. Something he’d definitely never felt before, and he wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be a good feeling or a bad one. For one, she literally just sat there and exposed probably her biggest secret to a complete stranger, and he couldn’t even tell his own aunt about his private identity.

Well, if anything, it put things into perspective a little bit.

“Why’d you tell me?” So he decided to just ask, rather than sit there and wonder. Pepper definitely seemed like the kind of person who would be straight with him anyway.

Pepper shrugged. “You seemed like you could use someone who gets it.”

“That obvious, huh?” Peter said with a dry chuckle.

Pepper’s lips quirked into another little, knowing smile, and she shrugged again. “You remind me of Tony,” she started, and Peter wondered where in the hell she got _that_ from. “Not always as suave as you think you are.”

Okay, yeah. She had a point.

Both points, actually. He spent the longest time telling himself that he didn’t need anyone who _got it,_ and even though there were many of them out there, it didn’t matter that he didn’t know any of them. He supposed it was just part of his teenage tough-guy vigilante thing, but still, he couldn’t deny that it was nice to know at least one other person in the same situation. He certainly didn’t expect that person to be one of the most influential business executives on the planet, but somehow… that made it comforting. She had a lot to lose for the sake of that secret. Peter didn’t have nearly as much, but he had enough for it to matter.

He sighed, and looked down at where he was absentmindedly wringing his hands in his lap, then wiped his palms on the oversized jeans he was wearing. “So how come you don’t use it?” he asked after a brief pause, hoping that the question wasn’t crossing any boundaries.

Pepper lifted her gaze from where it had wandered back to her phone, and settled her eyes on the window across from her. She was obviously deep in thought, and Peter almost regretted asking question, since it seemed like no one had ever asked it before.

“I guess I don’t feel like I need to,” Pepper finally answered, fairly definitively. She shifted her gaze towards Peter, and there must have been some kind of disbelief or confusion on his face, because she stifled a sigh before she continued. “I know that probably sounds selfish,” she said, and Peter wanted to backtrack, say that wasn’t what he meant at all, but she kept going before he could say anything. “To say that I don’t need to use this… power, gift, whatever you want to call it, that no one else has but me as far as I know, but… I like to believe in the fundamental goodness of people, you know? Regular people. And I think I can do more good as a regular person than a powered one.” She paused and smiled again. “Extremis doesn’t benefit anyone. It’s just not that kind of thing. But what I do every day at Stark Industries? That benefits millions.”

Peter nodded, slowly beginning to understand. “The little guys,” he said, pulling the words from Mr. Stark’s mouth. “It benefits the little guys.”

“Yeah,” Pepper agreed. “And what you do benefits the little guys, too.”

Peter raised his eyebrows, looked away, and ran a hand through his hair with an uncertain chuckle. “Yeah, well… I’m trying,” he said. “Wouldn’t really call it regular, though.”

“Doesn’t have to be.” Pepper’s response, much like all the other ones that day, was so easy that it made Peter question if she’d planned this whole thing. It almost seemed like it. “I do good my way, and you do it yours. Being regular or being powered isn’t what makes you a good person, because sometimes people are both.”

Okay, maybe she hadn’t planned all of this. Maybe she was just one of the kindest people on the planet, and Peter was just lucky enough to have been left stranded at an airport only to have her sent to take him home. Honestly, he wasn’t even sure he deserved this level of kindness, but it was nice nonetheless.

He had never been able to make a final decision on whether or not it was easy to find good people in the world, but at the moment he found it tipping more towards the affirmative. There were two of them right here on this plane, he supposed. At least there was one, definitely, sitting across from him by the window. And she’d given him fairly good reason to believe that he was one, too.

He had to say, he felt significantly better than he did a couple hours ago, and it wasn’t nearly as difficult to finally relax in the plush leather plane seat as he looked out the window. It was quiet for a little while, until Peter decided to look back at Pepper with an amused grin on his face. “So does this mean you’ll put in a good word with the Avengers for me?” he asked, only half joking.

Pepper barely took a moment to process the question, and gave a sarcastic yet good-natured laugh. “That sounds like a Mr. Stark question,” she said knowingly, somewhat teasingly, raising an eyebrow as she looked over at the boy again. “Just keep doing what you do, kid,” she added after a brief pause, her tone and expression softening. “It’ll pay off.”

Peter decided not to make the snide comment about how he _definitely_ hadn’t heard _that_ one before, and instead just nodded. She was right, after all. At least he hoped she was. “Sure,” he said, sliding back in his chair before he turned his gaze back to the window. “Will do.”

By the time they arrived back in New York, it was already dark out and probably approaching midnight, though one would never know it by the way the typical city lights filtered through the plane windows. Peter was used to it, of course, and given that Pepper didn’t seem remotely fazed by it, so was she.

“Well, here were are,” Pepper said, stretching a little bit before she stood up, and Peter immediately followed suit. “Happy will bring a car around for you to take you home.”

“Sure,” Peter said, taking a minute to gather his things, which really only consisted of his still-grimy suit that he folded over his arm. His ratty backpack would really come in handy to hide that thing right now, he thought, but so be it. “Thanks,” he said, looking back over at Pepper, “for, uh, everything. All this was really nice of you, I appreciate it. Seriously.”

“Don’t mention it.” Pepper smiled gently. “Like I said, not a hassle. Tony’s always sending me to fetch his things.”

Peter snorted, amused. Okay, he was one of Mr. Stark’s _things_ now. Weird, but sounded like an okay title for now. He said another thank-you before he waved goodbye and turned to descend the flight of stairs off the plane, but not long after he turned around, something occurred to him. “Wait,” he said, looking over his shoulder at Pepper. “Do you—you know, want your shirt back sometime?”

Pepper seemed caught off-guard for a split second, but then took a look at the shirt Peter was wearing and laughed. Peter offered a small, unsure smile of his own at that, and realized it was probably a stupid question, because fat chance she wanted that thing back.

“No, keep it,” Pepper said as expected, shaking her head as her smile widened. “The tag says ‘property of P.P.’, doesn’t it?”


End file.
